However, the reign of the 182-metre structure as record holder could be short-lived, with work due to begin on an even larger statue of a Hindu king off the coast of Mumbai.

The two statues have strong resonance for the Hindu nationalist movement, which has been on the rise in India, and will cost a total of nearly £700m to build.

The Gujarat state chief minister, Vijay Rupani, confirmed the Sardar Patel statue, located about 125 miles (200km) south-east of the state’s commercial capital, Ahmedabad, would be unveiled on 31 October.

The 29.8bn rupee (£314m) Statue of Unity, which Rupani said is being built with iron, water and soil collected from across India, will be about twice the size of New York’s Statue of Liberty.